Talent
by cleocats18
Summary: Austin and Ally aren't partners, certainly not. They've only known each other for a year and a half and they already hate each other. They are both 7th graders in their schools magnet program and members of their school's symphonic band. They couldn't be more different but then something changes. They each have something to teach each other, but can they work together?
1. Monday

**Author's Note**

**-Okay, so I'm new here and this is my first story. I'm sorry that it's probably not going to be very good at first but with luck it may get better over time. Please review if there is anything you think I can improve on. Well here we go!**-

Chapter 1

_Ally's P.O.V._

I had just gotten back from winter break, I was pretty content with the results of the chair test in band, I had moved up a chair and was 3rd chair clarinet. However, despite that I always felt that little twinge of jealousy in my heart as I watched Austin, our 1st chair saxophonist, playing with the beauty that only a natural can have. I was truly jealous, of his beautiful instrument, of the beautiful sound. I drove me crazy that he of all people was amazing at an instrument that I loved so much. But most of the time I didn't think about that, and I was relatively content. Then my life changed.

It was Monday afternoon, and as usual I was headed to my clarinet lesson. When I got there, my teacher was busy, and when I went into the lesson room I saw a saxophone, a beautiful gleaming black and gold saxophone sitting out. Something possessed me, I found a new reed and put it on. I picked up the saxophone and played a few notes, I didn't know any fingerings, and yet the notes rang pure and clear. It felt wonderful, so natural and perfect. Better that playing the clarinet ever did. I turned around and saw my teacher watching.  
"I'm so sorry" I told him putting down the saxophone, but he didn't seem to hear me, he was looking at me like I had just started glowing.  
"Was that you playing?" he asked and I just nodded.  
"Your amazing," he said, seeming almost dazed. "How did you know the fingerings? He asked.  
"I don't know, I just sort of guessed" I replied and watched as me teacher seemed to be even more in awe. He told me to pick up the saxophone and handed me a book with some simple songs. I looked at the fingerings, I played the song, and now my teacher looked at me like I had just grown a tail.  
"You're a natural" he said. So needless to say, my mum was informed, and I got a saxophone, and arrangements were made so I could stay in symphonic band.


	2. Tuesday

Chapter 2

_Austin's P.O.V._

It was Tuesday, and Mrs. Peri (our band director) pulled all of the saxophonists (including me) aside before class.  
"I'm sorry to bother you all," she said to us "but I figured that it would probably be a good idea to introduce you to the newest member of the saxophone section."  
Now needless to say this got me pretty curious, because it was rare for people to move up into symphonic band in the middle of the year. So I asked, "Who is it?"  
"It's…" Mrs. Peri begin, and she was cut off when the door to Mrs. Peri's office opened and _she_ stepped in and answered it for her. _She_ being Ally, who stood there, smiling, her sweet, obnoxious smile with a beautiful black and gold alto saxophone in her hand. "Ally Dawson" Mrs. Peri finished.  
I stared speechless.  
"And although I would normally assign Dallas to help her because he's section leader, because she is a natural talent like you Austin," (I knew what was coming then, and you could bet I wasn't happy about it) "You will be in charge of helping her."  
I tried to suppress a groan, but I'm pretty sure I failed judging by how Mrs. Peri glared at me.

So then she dismissed us to class and we begin to warm up. As Ally reviewed the fingerings for the warm-up I said to her, trying to tease her, "So you must be pretty excited to find that you're as talented as me huh."  
"What do you mean?" she asked.  
I rolled my eyes "Don't pretend I haven't seen all of the thinly veiled looks of jealousy you've been giving for the last half year or so," I said to her.  
"Oh yes, I'm so thrilled to have the same talent as the wonderful and amazing Austin" she replied sarcastically.  
That kind of pissed me off", Go to h*ll Ally" I said to her my anger seeping into my voice.  
"And I love you to" she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. This made me even madder and I was about to say something nasty when out of the corner of my eye I notice some of the girls in the clarinet section laughing.  
Ally waves to them and they wave back "How are you liking your new instrument?" One of them asked "And how are you liking your new boyfriend" Cassidy, one of the girls asked.  
"It's great Trish" Ally replied to the first question, and then looked confused for a minute by the second question, then the meaning hit home "Not cool" she replied.  
I looked at her confused, not really understanding, and then I felt my cheeks grow warm as the meaning of the girl's words dawned on me. 'They though she liked me?... Or wait, maybe they though I liked her' I though to myself. 'Do I?' I wondered. 'No I'm not that stupid' I decided, remembering last year when I had fallen for her hard, and even thought she had liked me back. And then remembering having my friend ask her if she liked me and hearing him tell me that she said she didn't. I snapped back to the present.  
"Do you need any help with the fingerings for the warm-up?" I asked Ally, no really caring if she did or not but figuring that if she didn't do well it would probably be coming out of my grades. She asked for help on this one weird fingering that involved several odd keys.

Then Mrs. Peri came up to the podium and we started the warm-up. Ally played it perfectly, her sound was beautiful and she was totally in tune. I actually had to pull out my mouthpiece a bit because I was playing sharp.  
'I wonder if this is what I sound like when I play' I though 'If it is no wonder she was envious of me' There was a depth to the sound, one that the other saxophonists didn't have. I tried not to look too impressed.

So band proceeded for there, we played some music, but we had just gotten the pieces yesterday, so they weren't much newer to Ally than they were to us and she did fine. After band we had lunch, however it was kind of unusual because although Ally had always sat at my lunch table, before today I had sort of just ignored her, however now because she was a saxophonist too Kira and Dez were talking to her, so I had to as well. Just to give a bit more background, Ally and I had only had one class together last year, band. However this year I had four of my six classes with her. My problem was that my friends tended to tease her, as most of the guys do, and since at the beginning of the year I might have still liked her just a little bit, I didn't want to tease her. So I mostly just ignored her, and only occasionally added on to my friends teasing and did not really ever talk to her. So that worked fine until that day. From there things continued to got down hill. Well not exactly. Math was okay, however we changed seats in Technology, and I ended up sitting right next to Ally (right about then I swore quietly under my breath). Not only that, but we also got partnered up for a project (Then I swore a little more loudly and my friends laughed). So that's about it for Tuesday.


	3. Tuesday from Ally's POV

**Author's Note**

**-Okay, so I'm going to try something a little different for this chapter. I'm going to write about the same day, but from a different P.O.V. Tell me how you like it so I know if I should do it again. Also feel free to give any other suggestions you can think of, I'm always looking for ways to improve my stories.**-

Chapter 3

_Ally's P.O.V._

So although band is fourth period, I will start there because the rest of my day was pretty uneventful. So at the beginning of band Mrs. Peri came up to me and told me to go set up my saxophone and then meet her in her office. So I set up my instrument and took a little extra time to make sure I was in tune (Yes, so my intonation can't be credited to my natural talent, that was just because I didn't want to be out of tune on my first day) Then I headed for Mrs. Peri's office. I smiled to myself, feeling a bit nervous and then walked in. I immediately noticed that Mrs. Peri wasn't the only one in there, that all of the saxophonists were there, not just the altos, Austin, Kira, and Dallas, but also our tenor Dez and as much as I'd prefer not to admit it I was mainly paying attention to Austin.  
"Ally Dawson" I heard Mrs. Peri say, I assumed it was in answer to someone question. I saw Austin look at me, surprised, and then turned my attention back to Mrs. Peri as she addressed the saxophonists, Austin in particular.  
"And although I would normally assign Dallas to help her because he's section leader, because she is a natural talent like you Austin," (I knew what was coming then, and you could bet I wasn't happy about it) "You will be in charge of helping her." I saw Austin roll his eyes and try to suppress a groan. He didn't succeed, and Mrs. Peri glared at him. Then Mrs. Peri dismissed us to class and we begin to warm up.

I was starting to look at the different fingerings for the warm-up when Austin said to me  
"So you must be pretty excited to find that you're as talented as me huh."  
'You wish' I though to myself, but I decided to be polite and reply, "What do you mean?"  
I saw Austin rolled his eyes (He seemed to do that a lot) and say "Don't pretend I haven't seen all of the thinly veiled looks of jealousy you've been giving for the last half year or so."  
At that moment I hoped no one was paying attention to me because I could feel myself flush with embarrassment. My jealousy/hatred of Austin was common knowledge among my friends but I didn't know that he was aware of it. I quickly snapped back a sarcastic reply to hide my embarrassment. "Oh yes, I'm so thrilled to have the same talent as the wonderful and amazing Austin" I replied.  
This seemed to aggravate Austin, as he said "Go to h*ll Ally."  
Once again I used a sarcastic comeback to get on his nerves and replied with my voice dripping with sarcasm "And I love you too." Right about then I noticed some of the girls in the clarinet section looking at Austin and I, and giggling.  
So I just decided to wave and they waved back "How are you liking your new instrument?" Trish asked (Trish is one of my close friends) "And how are you liking your new boyfriend" Cassidy, asked (She hates me, although I have no clue why). "It's great Trish" I replied to the first question, and for a second I didn't reply to the second question and just sat there looking confused, then the meaning hit home "Not cool" I said to Cassidy.

I saw Austin looking at me, confused no doubt by Cassidy's question (He isn't very bright) I then saw him blush slightly as he finally figured out what she meant. I tried not to laugh. 'Everyone knows I haven't liked Austin since last year. Well apparently not everyone' I though to myself thinking back on Cassidy's comment. I watch Austin just sitting there looking zoned out for a second and then go back to reviewing fingerings for the warm-up.  
"Do you need any help with the fingerings for the warm-up?" I hear Austin ask me, and wonder for a second why he cared and then remember that Mrs. Peri put him in charge of helping me. I figured I might as well take advantage of it and asked him for help on this one weird fingering that involved several odd keys.

Then Mrs. Peri came up to the podium and we started the warm-up. I think I played it either really well or really badly (probably the latter) because I saw Austin looking at me funny. I noticed that Austin had to pull out his mouthpiece a bit because he was playing sharp which kind of surprised me because I assumed he never played sharp or flat. Despite that he sounded really good (Not that I ever would have said that). So after that we worked on some new pieces and because they were new to everyone so I think I didn't do to badly. After band I headed to lunch, which was a little weird, because instead of chatting with the people I normally did (Which are Trish, Elliot, Meagan and Ethan) I talked with Kira, Dez and even Austin and his friends. However I still didn't miss Elliot face turn red when he ate 3 jalapeños at one and then again when he tripped and accidentally landed in Trish's lap. However I think the best part the resulting attack from Trish with her water bottle (Those two are going to make a great couple one day.) Science was really funny, our not very bright Science teacher Mrs. Harris came up with a new way to make us be quiet called Salami-Bologna however it had the opposite effect because it was so stupid that every time she said it we started laughing and talking even more.

I got all excited because we were changing seats in technology and ended up being totally disappointed. Mrs. Anderson put me next to Austin! Austin of all people! I heard him say some nasty words under his breath, which meant that he couldn't have been any happier than I was. Then Mrs. Anderson announced a new project and said that we would be working with our shoulder partners.  
"Fudge" I muttered to myself and at the same time I heard Austin say something that sounded similar to fudge but was much, much ruder. Some of the guys laughed at that and Mrs. Anderson gave him the famous stink-eye, which was usually only used on Dez and Trent but had apparently now been earned by Austin. That at least made it a little better.


	4. Wednesday

Chapter 4

_Austin's P.O.V._

Not much happened before band, except in 2nd period (civics) when I had a desk war with Cassidy and Trent because I kept bumping Trent's desk and then I accidentally bumped Cassidy's desk and war broke out. I saw Ally watching us the whole time and laughing, I could tell she though the whole thing was really cute, probably because a lot of the girls have been trying to get Cassidy and I together. She probably though they were finally succeeding.

In band, we were working on a new piece called American Riversongs. It is three pages long and pretty challenging. Well that's what everyone says, I haven't really looked at it. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with Ally though, she's doing really well, even though she's new to the instrument. There was this one part, a saxophone soli that she played amazingly, she sounded so good that I almost wanted to practice that part. 'No' I decided 'that is way to much work.' Mrs. Peri announced that we would have a chair test coming up soon but I didn't worry too much, I would obviously stay 1st chair.

After that was lunch where my friends and I were having tons of fun because we discovered if we pinched part of our throats our voice would get higher. Then, I don't know why but I yelled  
"Hey Ally" and then when she looked at me I pinched my throat and said, "Hey Ally" again, and this time my voice was an octave higher  
"What the fudge!" she exclaimed, her eyebrows leaping up in surprise. I started laughing and then so did my friends and then even Ally and her friends started to crack up. It made me feel weirdly giddy and happy. Well, after my strange and funny lunch came math, which was well math. Then in tech we had to work on our project. It was a stop-motion animation project where we had to model and compare Mitosis and Meiosis. Ally had already gone home and written part the script for part of the project and had brought the clay, and was all ready to go. I'm pretty sure she thought she would be doing all the work and I would be goofing off and talking to my friends (which I usually do, but now I'm determined to prove her wrong). As Ally set to work on creating the cell I asked her what I could do to help.  
She responded by just looking at me incredulously for a moment and then saying, "How about you help make some of the chromosomes."  
I tried to start making some but she almost immediately stopped me and said "No, that's not right." When I looked a little bit hurt she added "I'm not insulting you, for once, I just get really OCD about my work."  
She then showed me how she though the chromosomes should be done, and I do admit that they looked better her way. So that's basically what we did for the rest of class, we sat side by side as I created chromosomes and she sculpted a cell. Once or twice I looked over at what she was doing and observed the cell she was making, it was actually pretty good, you know for Ally, and it showed a lot of attention to detail. Something else odd happened as well. Once we accidentally bumped elbows and it was totally weird my arm felt like it had just been shocked and I could feel my face heat up. We both quickly moved our elbows away and went back to work.


	5. Thursday

**Author's Note**

**-Here's the update you were asking for ausllylover2345. I'm sorry it took so long for me to update. I've been really busy with finals coming up and a band concert to prepare for. Hopefully I'll be able to update almost every day over the summer.-****  
**

Chapter 5

_Ally's P.O.V._

It was Thursday morning, and I was in the band room, like every morning. I was starting to work on the scales for the chair test. I had to learn my B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat, F, C, G, and D scales and part of American River Songs for the chair test. I knew only three of the scales and a bit of the part of American River Songs. I reviewed my B flat, E flat and F scales and then started working on my A flat scale, all the while thinking about how few people were in here practicing for the chair test. You'd think more people would be here. All you basically saw were the first chairs for each instrument and in the case of the saxophones one very sorry sounding 4th chair. I could see everyone staring at me, probably wondering how a pitiful excuse for a saxophonist like me got into symphonic band. After I was satisfied with my A flat scale I started working on my C scale. While I was doing that I couldn't help notice Austin come in and put away his instrument and then head for the door. I felt strangely disappointed "What were you hoping for, that he'd actually stay and practice?" a mocking voice in my head asked "or were you hoping he might actually care enough to talk to you" and just as I thought that I messed up a note on my scale.  
Austin noticed and instead of going out the door he headed towards me "How are you doing on your scales?" He asked me, and that mocking voice in my head whispered 'He doesn't really care, he's just making sure he won't get in trouble with Mrs. Peri.' After I replied he said, "You were sounding pretty good, but you messed up that one note, that's supposed to be a C sharp not a C."  
"Yes I know, I'm not deaf or stupid" I replied felling a little giddy inside that he said I sounded good but making sure my sarcastic reply covered that up.  
"Well it's good that you're learning your scales" he said and stood there awkwardly for a moment before saying "Well see you later" and leaving. I felt bad, perhaps I had been a bit rude. Then I just sat there for a minute, feeling slightly stunned.  
'That's odd,' I thought to myself 'That was completely out of character for Austin.'  
'Or as he would probably phrase it 'What the F*** was that about' I thought to myself with a smile. I remember seeing Mrs. Peri watching us with a smile during that strange moment. "What is she up to?" I wondered. I gave up trying to figure out the motives of the people around me and just got back to work. From there I worked on my scales for a bit longer and then I packed up and went to homeroom.

After homeroom, which, as usual was pretty uneventful I went to Language Arts where I was unfortunately stuck working with Austin yet again. I was in a group of six people, that included Meagan, Trish, Dez, Ethan, me of course, and the horrid Austin and we had to do a report on Ernest Hemmingway. So that is basically what we spent class doing, setting up our groups and stuff. Civics included a desk war between Cassidy and Austin, which I normally would have thought was super cute, but today made me almost sick to my stomach.  
It was strange. 'Am I…Jealous?' I asked myself and felt myself gag a little bit as I thought this. 'No way' I replied to myself 'It was probably just my breakfast disagreeing with me.'  
Math was pretty average, and then came band. In band I set up my saxophone and listened to the conversations in the instrument setup room. Mostly just lots of gossip, nothing to noteworthy. Then we did our warm-up and I heard the waves in the air that meant that I wasn't in tune with the others and listened to them changing my embouchure to make myself in tune and I also heard Austin adjust his embouchure and saw Kira and Dallas both pull out their mouthpieces. "Well this is a pleasant surprise" Mrs. Peri told us when we finished the warm-up "The saxophones are actually in tune for once" I smiled happily at that and then listened as she tuned the clarinets which were unfortunately out of tune. Then we worked on American River Songs which is a level four piece and really hard. Austin doesn't seam to care, he glides through most of the music with ease but some of the really hard parts he messed up, he didn't seem to care though. I struggled a fair bit because despite all of my practice I have still only been playing for a little while. I still have a lot to learn. Then there was lunch. At lunch Austin was drinking chocolate milk and Brooke, one of the girls at my lunch table squeezed the bottle and chocolate milk squirted out and nearly got on his shirt.  
So this is what he said "You see this brown s***? I don't want it on my shirt so if you squirt me with it again I will take this container and upend it on your head so you will have brown s*** all over you!" I was cracking up, the whole thing was pretty amusing. However then Trish said something that made me stop laughing.  
"I dare you to squeeze the bottle," she said and I felt myself going pale.  
"Oooh" Elliot, Meagan, and Ethan all said. With my friends you can't back down from a dare or they will never let you live it down. So I steeled myself and I waited until he wasn't looking and squeezed the bottle. Chocolate milk squirted everywhere, including on Austin. He looked around for the culprit and saw me squirming guiltily, I really did feel bad about it, (even though this is Austin, who I hate), but I couldn't back down from a dare.  
"Ally" he said, anger obvious in his voice "Did you hear what I said I'd do to Brooke if she did that?"  
"Yep" Trish replied for me, and lets just say if looks could kill Trish would be dead after the one I had just shot her.  
"That goes double for you" Austin growled and I took that as my cue to jump out of my seat and go hide behind Trish and Elliot. Trish because she got me into this mess and Elliot, well Elliot just because he's Elliot.  
Austin jumped up and went to chase after me, but than Elliot gave him a look that seemed to say "I dare you to try" and Austin just sat back down. Once I decided that it was safe to return to my seat, I slowly walked back over and begin to sit down but than i noticed the chocolate pudding cup on it.  
I stood up, picked up the pudding cup, looked Austin straight in the eyes and said "Nice try."

After that was Science where pretty much nothing was happening and then I was off to technology. Mrs. Anderson announced that we were going to be able to stay after school that Friday to work on out projects. I was very happy about that becasue I had a hunch that with Austin as my partner I wasn't going to be getting much done. However today he still seemed eager to work. We had finished sculpting the cells so I started filming with Austin helping me reshape the cells between shots. I figured that at this rate we would actually be able to finish early, especially if I come in after school on Friday. I can't believe it but we're actually making good time.  
"What?" Austin asked me  
Oops I must have said that last part out loud. "I was just saying that we've gotten more done than I thought we would have" I replied "And that if I come in the afternoon on Friday we should be done with time to spare."  
"Oh okay" Austin replied and we went back to work. A few minutes later we bumped elbows again and I felt like I had been shocked. I scooted over a bit in the other direction. It was that the whole shock thing was unpleasant, just... disconcerting. Soon the bell rang and school was out. I headed to the band room to pick up my saxophone and on the way out I bumped right into Austin.  
"Sorry" I mumbled under my breath  
"I guess you just couldn't stay away from me" Austin said with a smirk  
"Shut up" I muttered and walked away.


End file.
